The Heart of it all
by Saduko Leyra
Summary: Ryo and his friends attend a valentines party. how hectic can it be? Japanese names used


**I don't own Yugioh, or anything else famous, I do own, however, Saduko, Siber and Bengal, and the Millennium Ring.  


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The Heart of it All

"Hey, Ryo!" a boy with blond hair shouted. "Have you seen Yugi yet today?"

Ryo turned and waved. "Hey Jounouchi! Nope, haven't seen Yugi all day!"

"I need to ask him who's gonna host the V-day party. He and Yami held the Halloween one, Honda held the Thanksgiving party, and Anzu held that nightmarish Christmas party, so I figure I'd like to host this one."

It was sixth period, and Valentines Day was just around the corner, which meant chocolate, confessions of undying love, more chocolate, candy hearts, chocolate, cute cards, and chocolate. Ryo smiled and turned to open his locker, and was met with an avalanche of cards, candies, and chocolate.

"Oh bugger!" he shouted as the locker room exploded with laughter. "At least this time there's chocolate…"

Jounouchi smiled at Ryo's predicament and helped him up. "Isn't this the third time that this has happened?"

"Oh, you can just sod off." Ryo growled halfheartedly.

"Well, if ya look at it this way, ya might notice what this means."

"What do you mean?" Ryo asked as he separated the chocolate from the candy and cards. "Could you help a poor bloke out and throw the cards away?"

"Sure, Ryo! I mean that some people really like you if they're stuffing your locker with V-day cards and candy."

Ryo pondered what Jounouchi had said as he stuffed the chocolates into his backpack. He shook his head at the thought of someone likeing him, it was just too weird.

"You guys need some help?"

Ryo looked up, startled. He smiled again when he saw it was Saduko, one of his classmates. "Yes, please!" he said to the feral looking boy. As usual, Saduko's long black hair was tied back with a blood-red ribbon, his unusually violet eyes flashing as he bent to help.

Ryo sighed. Because of a medical condition, Saduko didn't have to do any of the coach's suicidal exercises. Sometimes Ryo would consider breaking his leg on purpose, just so that he didn't have to exercise in the ridiculous gym clothes that everyone had to wear.

"Are you boys done in there yet?" called the coach from outside. It was then Ryo realized that he and Saduko were alone in the room. Was it him, or did the room feel a lot hotter? Ryo quickly finished taking care of the last of the valentines and ran outside to his number.

"Okay, listen up! Today we are running around the school, 5 times!" shouted the gym teacher.

Moans of protest coursed through the students at the news and Ryo saw Saduko smirking in a strangely sympathetic way*.

* * *

An hour later Ryo, Saduko, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were walking over to Yugi's game shop.

"Hey, Ryo," said Honda with a smile. "Heard you got ambushed again, by valentines!" Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda laughed at this, but Ryo heard Saduko give a small growl of either anger or annoyance.

"Yeah, luckily there was chocolate in this one," I said in fake cheerfulness. Ryo didn't like that he was being laughed at anymore than Saduko, but unlike Saduko, Ryo had had to put up with it for a while now.

"What does chocolate have to do with anything?" asked Anzu curiously.

"Every year, no matter what happens, everyone who sends me valentines forgets the chocolate factor of the equation."

"Ugh! Could we not talk about math?" groaned Honda. "The weekend just started!"

Saduko chuckled at this and Anzu looked at him.

"What?" Saduko asked. "It's funny!"

Anzu shook her head and Ryo decided to change the subject. "So, um… I'm glad that Valentines Day is on a Sunday."

"Why would you be glad about that?" asked Jounouchi. "I wish that Valentines Day had a set day of the week, ya'know, like Easter."

"Easter is on a Sunday, Jounouchi." Saduko said with a smile.

"Oh yeah! Hey I have an idea!"

"Jounouchi! Don't hurt yourself!" laughed Anzu.

"Did'ja just call me stupid?"

"Look how nicely she's reminding Jounouchi that he's stupid!" said Ryo with a smile.

"Oh, just shut it!" shouted Jounouchi as he turned red.

"Ryo's not making you feel stupid," said Saduko. "Your brain is."

Jounouchi glared at Saduko. "That's it! You and I are gonna have a duel. RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" he shouted.

"Hahaha! Jounouchi, we're in the middle of the street!" said Saduko. "At least wait until we are on the sidewalk!"

"He is right Jounouchi," said Honda, for once using his head for something other than fighting. "You might get hurt."

"Gy-ahh! I hate to say it, but for once you're right Honda." Jounouchi admitted, grudgingly. "We can duel at Yugi's place."

* * *

The atmosphere was intense. Ryo could feel tension comeing off Jounouchi in waves. Yugi shook his head as Saduko placed a card face-down. The duel had sofar lasted an hour and a half, in which, Saduko had pounded Jounouchi's life points and Jounouchi hadn't scratched a smidgen of Saduko's life points.

Ryo suddenly realized he had need to relieve himself and left the room as Jounouchi called his attack.

As Ryo left the restroom he heard a cry of despair.

"How did you beat me so easily?" moaned Jounouchi. "You trampled me worse than Yugi ever has, and I didn't even scratch your life points!"

"Listen, Jounouchi," Saduko said gently. "I've said this to countless duelists in the past, and it looks like I need to say it again. Never underestimate your opponent, that loses the duel, but never overestimate your opponent either, or you end up panicking. Always think positive and think of your opponent as someone on the same level as you. Then someday you might be worth my time."

Ryo smiled at the familiar words. He remembered Saduko using the same words with Kaiba about two weeks ago.~

"What does that mumbo-jumbo mean?" asked Jounouchi, incredulously.

"I don't get it either," said Yugi. "and I'm the King of Card Games."

"How do you not get it Yugi?" Saduko asked. "You do it all the time."

"Does this really matter?" asked Anzu. "Shouldn't we be more focused on the V-day party? By the way, Yugi, who's gonna host the party anyway?"

"I thought that maybe Saduko should since he's new here. Jounouchi can hold the St. Patricks Day Party, and Ryo and Bakura can hold the Easter one."

"That works for me!" said Honda, cheerfully knocking over Saduko's deck.

"Hang on!" Saduko protested as he picked up his deck. "That means I only have two days!"

"Well then, you had better get started!"

Ryo could see Jounouchi grin at Saduko's discomfort, and what happened next didn't surprise him. One minute Saduko was putting his deck away, and the next Ryo heard bone hitting bone and Jounouchi was on the floor sporting a broken nose. With a huff and a growl, Saduko left and Ryo followed.

* * *

"There is some mail here for you, Ryo," said Bakura as Ryo walked in.

"Hello to you, too. How was your day, Bakura?"

"Fine, why?"

Ryo didn't answer. He had tried to help Saduko with his shopping, but the aggressive and feral boy had just brushed him off.

"Did you get attacked by valentines again, Ryo?" asked Bakura. "You know, back in Egypt, about 3,000 years ago, we didn't have a Valentines day. Normally, if you liked someone, your parents and their parents would barter with eachother to try and make a small profit off of the marriage. If that failed, you and the person you liked ran away and got married in a different city, normally Thebes if you didn't already live there."

"Really? So did you ever get married?" asked Ryo, curiously.

"No, the girl I loved died the day Kul Elna was destroyed and the Millenium Items made." Bakura replied sadly. "At least I think she did."

Ryo shook his head sadly and opened a letter. It was in a white envelope without a return address, and smelled faintly of violet. Inside was a very fancy card with some nonsense about undying love. Ryo put it on the table and opened the next one. Same as the last, no return address, gushy expensive card. The next three letters followed suit, making Ryo want to scream as he reached the last thing in the stack. It was a large, brown package from Saduko. Ryo opened it eagerly and was not disappointed. Inside was a box of chocolate from See's Candy, Ryo's favorite place to buy chocolate. Ryo smiled and opened it.

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Sunday afternoon. Saduko rushed around hurriedly, trying to finish the decorations. Then she froze.

"I am such an idiot," she muttered as she pulled out a chain from underneath her shirt. In her hand was a small, golden hourglass with an eye on the top that was not dissimilar to that of Yugi's puzzle and Ryo's ring.

_'__The Millenium Hourglass._' she thought. _'The only item unknown to those with knowledge of the Millenium Items, it is able to freeze, reverse, or fastforward time. It also can move souls, whatever that means.'_

Saduko shook her head. For two days she had rushed around looking for stuff for the party, and yet she could have frozen time on Friday afternoon and bought everything that she needed.

"Well, I still have time to use it now," she said to her cats, Bengal and Siber. Saduko turned the glass backwards then forwards.

The effect was instantaneous. Siber, who had been licking his paw was now stuck in midlick, and Bengal was frozen in midair where she had been jumping onto the couch to see the birds in the birdbath outside showing two small birds splashing themselves, the droplets of water frozen beautifully. It all looked like a well-shot photograph.

Saduko stood there for a moment, astonished.

Shaking herself, Saduko finished the preparations for the party.

* * *

At around 4:39, the guests began to arrive, right on time. Saduko opened the door, once again in the guise of a boy, greeting everyone with a smile.

The Ishtar's arrived first, Ishizu struggling to control Malik and his Yami.

"Hello, Saduko, nice place you have here. -Marik! Put down the knife! I thought I told you to leave your Millenium Rod at home, Malik!"

Saduko smiled and showed down the hall to the dining room, pointing out the bathroom as they went.

"Wow, Ishizu! Look how big this place is! You could fit a football field in here!" said Malik, completely in awe.

"Ishizu, what's football?" asked Marik. "It sounds dangerous and American!"

"Honestly, Marik, I do not know." replied Ishizu. "Why don't you ask Malik, since he brought it up."

Saduko smiled as she ran to open the front door. It was Yugi, Yami, Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi.

Saduko led them to the dining room and ran to open the door again.

"Hi Ryo! Did you get my chocolates? Great! Hello Bakura, how are you? That's nice."

Saduko was running her legs off as she tried to show her guests to the dining room and answer the door. Pretty soon everyone had arrived and Saduko sighed with relief.

'_Next time, I'll host the part in the living room._' she thought as they were eating.

Dinner was nothing special. Just some rare, heart-shaped steaks, red mashed potatoes, and a chocolate cake with red icing.

"This is fun!" said Marik. "Who wants to play spin-the-bottle?"

"Marik! There are more guys than girls here!" said Ishizu.

"No, it's all right," said Saduko. "This could be interesting."

* * *

A couple rounds of spin-the-bottle later, no one had kissed someone of the same gender yet. It was Saduko's turn. She spun and the bottle went around and around (and a couple more arounds) until it finally stopped. The bottle pointed towards Ryo…

Happy Valentines Day!

The End

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**A/N: Happy Valentines Day! If you hate it, love it, think it needs work, think it was too short, too long, Great! Just tell me so please.**

***think of it this way, she smirks because it is funny that everyone is complaining and sypathetic towards poor Ryo having to suffer. Saduko never smiles or grins, she just smirks in different ways.**

**~This never happens in any of my fanfics because I think it would be too much work and take too much of the readers time.**


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